Forum Discussion
How do I indent text in cells in Excel?
Hello,
How do I indent text in cells in Excel?
I am generating a list of lecture talks and speakers as a PDF from an Excel spreadsheet. I am using a light grey border for the cell walls and I would like there to be more “white space” between the columns and rows. I see how to do this for the columns but not the rows.
I know about auto-fitting the row height, and I am utilizing that using that. I have found a way to apply “padding/indentation” to the left and right of the cell’s text. I just cannot figure out how to apply some “padding/indentation” above and below the cell’s text.
When I go into "Format Cells" and the "Alignment Tab", I see that I can make adjustments to both the from the "Horizontal Field" and "Vertical Field” options.
In the “Horizontal Field” option, I have selected the "Left (Indent)" option and set the unit to "1". I also did this for the "Right (Indent)" option. I like how this appears when it outputs.
I do not, however, see that option for the “Vertical Field Option”.
I know that I could set my row height to a specific pixel height, but some rows have more text (longer talk titles) and I am using the “Wrap Text” function. I do not know how I would tell the rows with four lines of text to have a height of 15 * 4 + 1 padding above and below (say, 62 pixels), and the rows with three lines of text to have a height of 15 * 3 + 1 padding above and below (say, 47 pixels).
Unfortunately, I have tried this manually for over 80 talks, but when I went to sort these talks (I converted the range to a table, made additions, and substractions, and switched it back to a range), it seems like the row heights I manually selected were re-applied to the talks as they fellow into the rows. Because of my additions and subtractions, some talks that had needed 62 pixels (four lines of text now fell into rows set to 47 pixels, and vice-versa.
The table function is the reason I am using Excel in the first place.
Is there a function to set above-text and below-text padding for text in Excel cells?
No, there is no such option in Excel. You might be better off creating your notes in Word, using a table.
Word offers much more control over the placement of text in table cells:
4 Replies
No, there is no such option in Excel. You might be better off creating your notes in Word, using a table.
Word offers much more control over the placement of text in table cells:
Thank you for such a rapid response. I've never used forums before, and this is a superb experience.
After doing this, it occurred to me to
(1) keep the Excel mostly as a range
(2) make edits in the correct places as best I can
(3) when needed, convert it to a table and take advantage of table functions (sorting that I would not want to attempt with manual cut-and-paste)
(4) convert it back to a range
(5) copy-and-paste that range into a Word document every time I want to revise the document again for new distribution.
-Rebecca
- Your automatic email (the response I got) suggested that I "Was the answer useful? Mark them as helpful! ...and like it. This will help all forum participants." I see how to “like” and how to “mark as best response”. How do I “mark as helpful”?
-Rebecca
